Sydney ventured into enemy territory on Wednesday, with coach John Longmire and co-captain Jarrad McVeigh vowing the AFL’s reigning premiers will embrace the hostility awaiting in Perth.

The Swans are following the same routine that has netted four wins from their past four clashes at Patersons Stadium, with a mid-week departure giving the team extra time to bond away from the SCG.

“We enjoy going over a bit earlier and we spend a few days there and we have our main training session there,” Longmire said ahead of his side’s preliminary final against Fremantle on Saturday.

“We really enjoy that on-the-road experience.

“It will be a reasonably hostile environment over in Perth. We know that, and we’ve got to embrace it and make sure we enjoy it.”

The stakes are as high as they can be for an AFL match in Perth, with success-starved Fremantle fans eyeing their club’s first grand-final berth.

“It’s that real mentality of 22 guys against a sold-out house every week and I think we really relish that,” McVeigh said.

The smart money is not on Sydney.

Fremantle are coming off a week off; Sydney battered after playing a man down in their semi-final win over Carlton.

The Dockers have a relatively healthy squad; the Swans this week added Kurt Tippett (knee) and Tom Mitchell (ankle) to a well-stocked injury list.

Prior to flying out to Perth, McVeigh said he was giving little thought to the hurdles in front of the Swans.

“Not really. Because it’s happened all year,” said the 28-year-old, who earlier this week was rewarded with his maiden All-Australian selection.

“You deal with injuries, they happen to every team.

“We’ve got full faith that whoever is out there, they can do the job. We’re not concerned with who’s not out there.

“Freo will be fresh, but we feel great after our game. We’ve recovered really well.

“We’ve got full faith in our gameplan and the way we play, that we can get over the line.”

The vast expanse of Patersons Stadium threatens to further expose any lingering fatigue the Swans are feeling.

The field is almost 25 metres longer than the SCG, and 15 metres longer than ANZ Stadium.

McVeigh was not concerned.

“We rate our fitness. We rate our mids, the way we run,” he said.

“You’ve got to run hard on that ground, no doubt.

“It’s a lot different compared to the SCG, but we try and bring that hard-running sort of performance every week.

“We’re going to have to do it again this week, because the pressure Freo put on is the best in the AFL.”